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Joe Kent, the former Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, urged President Donald Trump to end the hostilities with Iran as tensions escalate between Washington and Tehran amid the latest round of missile strikes.<\/p>\n
US Should ‘Walk Away’ From Iran<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Kent quoted a post on X by Obsidian Risk Advisors analyst Brett Erickson, who criticized the U.S. move to reinstate oil sanctions on Iran, calling it justified but “incredibly stupid” because it “destroys” the Memorandum of Understanding<\/a> between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n Don’t Miss:<\/p>\n Kent said with the MoU “effectively dead,” the U.S. was back to a military solution for the Strait of Hormuz. “The problem is that we signed the MOU because there was no military solution & we needed the SOH open,” Kent said. He then said that the best option for the U.S. would be to “just walk away.”<\/p>\n “If we walk Iran has no justification for targeting ships & we can use sanctions relief as our carrot,” he said, adding that both countries risked getting into a war with these “ineffective tit for tat strikes.”<\/p>\n Now that the MOU is effectively dead, as Brett explains below, we are back to attempting to find a military solution to the SOH. <\/p>\n The problem is that we signed the MOU because there was no military solution & we needed the SOH open. <\/p>\n Our best option is to just walk away. <\/p>\n If\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/cKCRpVeAIb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) July 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Kent had earlier resigned from his position as the Counterterrorism head, citing his opposition to the war with Iran, while also saying that the war was being driven by “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”<\/p>\n Trending: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your ‘Safe’ Holdings Could Be Costing You Big Time<\/a><\/p>\n Iran Accuses U.S. of Violating MoU<\/p>\n The comments come as Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Washington of violating the terms outlined in the MoU, including the reinstatement of oil sanctions.<\/p>\n The accusations come as the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that it had struck 80 Iranian targets with missile strikes following Iran’s targeting of vessels traversing through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, oil prices across the globe rose as tensions flared up between the U.S. and Iran. Notably, prices were already rising after refineries faced capacity woes.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy: Adam Radosavljevic on Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n Read Next:\u00a0<\/p>\n Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market<\/p>\n Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.<\/p>\n Arrived<\/p>\n Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100<\/a>. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.<\/p>\n FarmTogether<\/p>\n Farmland has historically held its value through market volatility and delivered returns uncorrelated to stocks and bonds. For accredited investors, FarmTogether offers direct access to high-quality U.S. farmland starting at $15,000<\/a> \u2014 fully managed, with no landlord headaches.<\/p>\n Immersed<\/p>\n Immersed is building technology for the future of work through spatial computing.<\/a> Known for its AR\/VR productivity platform that enables users to work across multiple virtual screens, the company has grown to more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Immersed is also developing Visor, a lightweight headset designed specifically for professional productivity, positioning the company at the intersection of remote work, extended reality (XR), and next-generation computing.<\/p>\n Fundrise<\/p>\n Private real estate and private credit can add income and stability to a stock-heavy portfolio. Fundrise offers access to diversified private real estate<\/a> and credit strategies through an easy-to-use platform, with professionally managed portfolios designed to generate passive income and long-term growth.<\/p>\n Realberry<\/p>\n Institutional-quality real estate has traditionally been difficult for individual investors to access. Realberry gives accredited investors direct access to private real estate opportunities <\/a>backed by a team with 35 years of experience, $3.4 billion in assets under management, and $481 million in cumulative distributions paid to investors as of Q4 2025, according to the company. With a portfolio spanning 13 million square feet across seven U.S. states, Realberry focuses on acquiring, developing, and managing real estate with an emphasis on long-term value creation while its principals often invest alongside clients to help align interests.<\/p>\n Mode Mobile<\/p>\n Mode Mobile is changing the way people interact with their phones by letting users earn money from the same apps and activities they already use every day.<\/a> Instead of platforms keeping all the advertising revenue, Mode Mobile shares a portion back with users who engage with content, play games, and scroll on their devices. Named one of Deloitte’s fastest-growing software companies in North America, the company has built a large beta user base and is scaling a model that turns everyday smartphone usage into a potential income stream.\u00a0<\/p>\n EquityMultiple\u00a0<\/p>\n For accredited investors looking beyond stocks and bonds, EquityMultiple provides access to vetted commercial real estate deals starting at $5,000<\/a>,<\/a> with only ~5% of opportunities passing their due diligence process.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Joe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[59693,38,34,11467,38528,59694,5611,5346,11469,59695,101],"class_list":["post-203410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-brett-erickson","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-joe-kent","tag-memorandum-of-understanding","tag-military-solution","tag-missile-strikes","tag-mohammad-bagher-ghalibaf","tag-national-counterterrorism-center","tag-obsidian-risk-advisors","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116909789887271983","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}